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Balance Metric

Chess Baron Guide

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Chess Set Piece Metrics

The metrics of the pieces in a chess set are important components in the quality of the goods. We supply the height, weight and balance in the chess sets and the certificate of authenticity details these metrics. The balance for chess set pieces is of particular importance.

The Meaning of 'Balance'

With different woods being of different density - the overall weighting of the piece is not just subject to the degree of auxiliary weighting for the piece. One piece carved in chidar may have excellent auxiliary weighting but since the wood is not as dense as Ebony the piece may be lighter than an equivilent Ebony piece but better weighted in proportion to the overall chess set piece. The balance provides a measurement of where on the length of a piece the balance point is, that is - what proportion of a piece's overall weight is contained in the base. Lower balance values represent greater base weighting. For denser woods, like Ebony and Bud Rosewood, higher balance values represent more 'even' weighting throughout. Generally a good weighting is one where the piece is heavy (over 60g), is not too heavily weighted at the bottom (not less than 15%) and has good density of wood material (represented by a balance of over 18%). For a luxury chess set a typical high quality balance will be between 12% and 29%.